Delta changed flight times Any recourse?

[nisiemouse]

I am aware of the 1 hour rule. Delta changed my flight time on the way down only by leaving 30 minutes but it made a long layover from a little less than 3 hours (my absolute max) to 3 and a half. Any one have any luck getting a change for a something like this? I wish I had booked the one with the 56 minute connection that was affordable but was worried about Atlanta.

Flights are great (at least right now) on the way back. 1 and a half hours to get to next flight.

 

[AustinNYC]

I have indeed been able to change when a flight time change occurs (> 1 hour). If you go online, take a look at your reservation and it will show you the change in flight time and allow you to re-book without change fee. Here is the * ... if there is any fare difference, you are responsible for that. I made a change on behalf of my MIL with only a ~$50 fare difference.

Delta's rules (as you are probably aware)...

If a Delta schedule or routing change has delayed your departure or arrival by more than one hour, you may be eligible to select an alternate flight at no additional charge. Note that the below conditions may apply:

•Your origin, destination and travel date must remain the same

•Alternate flights must be available, and you can only modify once as subsequent changes may result in additional fees

•Voluntary changes to other flights not impacted by a Delta schedule change may result in additional fees

That hour rule is pretty hard/fast rule. I doubt a front line customer service rep could override the change without collecting revenue. You could try to speak to Delta directly or if you are on twitter, I have excellent service experiences via their @DeltaAssist team.

Good luck.

 

[nisiemouse]

Thanks. That helps clarify and learned a couple of things I didn't know.

 

[CWdreamer]

For our last trip, Delta changed departing our flight to 3 hours before were were originally leaving and this one only had a 30 minute layover. So, I called and had no trouble changing flights to a later time with a longer layover and they did not charge any change fees.

 

[sam_gordon]

Delta made a change to our upcoming trip and it didn't work for us (got us in a couple hours later), so I called and they willingly changed our arrival airport (but at a better time).

A month or so later, they called saying they were looking for folks to change flights (even to fly the day before). I got them to change departure airport AND change our return flight (booked as two one ways).

Find out what flights you'd like to change to (even have a couple options just in case) and call them. The worst they can tell you is there will be a charge for the change.

 

[nisiemouse]

They just changed our return flight as well. Now I only have a 50 minute layover in Atlanta on the way back. So if they changed my flight down my 35 minutes and the return flight by 40 minutes can I combine those to meet the 1 hour rule. Thanks.

 

[jel0511]

Delta just changed my flight yesterday. We called them and they told us their rule is now 90 minutes!!!! Luckily my husband has status with Delta and they changed our flights due to his status. They made our flight earlier and we couldn't make it due to my daughter's summer job. You can always call and ask if they will change your flights, but I've never heard of being able to combine the time changes from each flight to get the time difference. Each flight is considered a separate event for the rule.

 

[nisiemouse]

Delta just changed my flight yesterday. We called them and they told us their rule is now 90 minutes!!!! Luckily my husband has status with Delta and they changed our flights due to his status. They made our flight earlier and we couldn't make it due to my daughter's summer job. You can always call and ask if they will change your flights, but I've never heard of being able to combine the time changes from each flight to get the time difference. Each flight is considered a separate event for the rule.

Thanks. I am just frustrated by how imbalanced everything is now. 3 and a half layover in the way down and 51 minutes on the way back. I am grateful that I booked our holiday flights when I did though because the prices are way up. I thought I had seen someone post that the flights could be combined for the rule in the past. I may be wrong though. I may give it a try.

 

[jel0511]

If that was the case, they shouldn't have given us such a hard time yesterday... our flights moved by an hour each way and they were sticklers for saying they weren't going to move them for us. My husband was adamant about it and eventually they said, since you have status and are such a good Delta customer we will make this exception for you this one time......

 

[abbydancer]

I haven't been on Disboards in a few years, but we're planning a trip, so I'm back. I have to share the funniest flight change ever.

In 2006, we were on a non-stop from San Francisco to Orlando. We got a notification that they'd changed our flights to something like this:

SFO- DEN Depart 1:00 arrive 5:00
DEN- MCO Depart 4:30 arrive 9:00

Anyone besides me see the problem there?

I called, asked the agent how I could make a -30 minute connection. She laughed, and put us back on the non-stop, which now left 3 hours earlier, but that was fine.

I think that when the original flight changed so much, the software tried to match both the departure and arrival times.

 

[LBIJim]

I haven't been on Disboards in a few years, but we're planning a trip, so I'm back. I have to share the funniest flight change ever.

In 2006, we were on a non-stop from San Francisco to Orlando. We got a notification that they'd changed our flights to something like this:

SFO- DEN Depart 1:00 arrive 5:00
DEN- MCO Depart 4:30 arrive 9:00

Anyone besides me see the problem there?

I called, asked the agent how I could make a -30 minute connection. She laughed, and put us back on the non-stop, which now left 3 hours earlier, but that was fine.

I think that when the original flight changed so much, the software tried to match both the departure and arrival times.

Yeah, but 5:00 Denver time is only 4:00 San Francisco time. I'm sure the computer thought you'd have plenty of time to make your connection.

 

[DebbieB]

I've worked with Delta in the past with time changes. Some agents are strict, some are not. One time I had a fight leaving MCO around 12:30pm. I really wanted late afternoon but that was the latest with the miles I had to use. They changed it to 12:00pm. I called to see if I could get later and the agent said no, citing the 90 minute rule. Then they changed it to 11:30am. I called and said we had a breakfast reservation that morning that I will have to cancel because of their time changes. The agent said, no problem I can change it, let me see what we have. I had already looked at the schedule and mentioned I saw a flight around 5:00pm. She said I can change it to that one. Problem solved!

I also had an issue another time where the flights with miles went PIT-JFK-MCO, leaving late morning, not arriving until late afternoon. I hated the idea of JFK, they have alot of delays, plus I felt like we were wasting time flying east to go south. There was a time change and only had a 30 minute connection. I called and we got the morning connection through Atlanta that I really wanted.

 

[Sandi]

I haven't been on Disboards in a few years, but we're planning a trip, so I'm back. I have to share the funniest flight change ever.

In 2006, we were on a non-stop from San Francisco to Orlando. We got a notification that they'd changed our flights to something like this:

SFO- DEN Depart 1:00 arrive 5:00
DEN- MCO Depart 4:30 arrive 9:00

Anyone besides me see the problem there?

I called, asked the agent how I could make a -30 minute connection. She laughed, and put us back on the non-stop, which now left 3 hours earlier, but that was fine.

I think that when the original flight changed so much, the software tried to match both the departure and arrival times.

A similar change happened to us a few years ago. I called and explained the problem and the agent just didn't get it until I asked whether we were supposed to make a mid-air connection to our second flight.

Curious whether the OP was able to make a change.

 

[abbydancer]

A similar change happened to us a few years ago. I called and explained the problem and the agent just didn't get it until I asked whether we were supposed to make a mid-air connection to our second flight.

I asked my agent the same question during our call, just for grins.

 

[tjmw2727]

I once had a flight change from non stop BOS to MCO to
BOS - JFK, then LGA (LaGuardia (sp?) -MCO!

It was at least 10 years ago and I was traveling as the solo adult with my then 5 or 6 year old dd. The agent really didn't understand that this would involve getting my bags at JFK and then taking a cab to LGA, checking in again etc. It was a long phone call as the agent insisted the computer wouldn't allow a flight like that - but they eventually put me on a different non stop bos-mco.